An email received this morning from Andrew in Tasmania, Australia -

"This is an historical enquiry as we are in the possession of an old sole stitcher of yours 'The Standard' and wonder if you have any information of when it might have been made. As we do not make custom footwear any more, we will be looking to selling it off. It seems a shame that it does not go to a museum or some such place as it is an amazing bit of engineering. The Model No. is 246 EMO, Serial No. 2264. Hope you can help with at least a year of manufacture. Thanking You, Andy Nuss"

Although we couldn't help with an actual year of construction we emailed Andrew back,

"Whilst I can’t give you an exact date of manufacture, I have attached to this email the page from a mid-1930’s machinery catalogue which shows the 246 series Goodyear.  At this time, the Goodyear Outsolers were starting to be fitted with their own motors to drive the stitching mechanism.

Prior to this they were generally usually used in factories, where banks of these machines were driven by ceiling mounted pullies, driven by a separate, much large motor.  Curiously, in keeping with the “make do and mend” ethos of shoe repairing, we are still using the stitching heads built when your machine was constructed.  These days we get rid of the large cast iron bases and fit fully refurbished stitching heads onto brand new bases and fit out with new electrics.

Not only does this construction method breathe new life into beautifully crafted stitching machines, but the cost of doing this is something like 1/5th of the cost of a comparable, newly constructed outsole stitching device!

I hope the above information was in some way helpful."